Chemistry
by theprozacfairy
Summary: Short, fluffy one-shot of Franny and Cornelius in the lab. Chemistry is fun.


A/N: This super cheesy, fluffy story takes place before Cornelius and Franny are married. I'd put them at 21 and 23 years of age, or so. Yes, I know 21 is young for her to be working on a PhD, but she's really smart, too. I imagine she graduated high school a year early, finished college in three years, and went right into a PhD program. My big sister did just that (only with biomed engineering instead of genetic).

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Cornelius and Franny were working on opposite ends of his lab, each on their own project. It wasn't the ideal situation, sharing a lab space with someone working on something else, but it worked. Plus, it meant the couple could spend more time together. Not while they were in the lab, but there was less time spent in transit. Plus, if she were to work at the university, she would probably just end up getting tired and going home to her apartment a couple blocks away, canceling their plans. It happened often, now that she had started PhD program. This way, Cornelius made sure she took breaks for food and rest, so she didn't feel so tired at the end of the day, and they could spend some time together before she retired to the guest room. She got more done that way, anyway.

She was looking through a microscope at a slide of stem cells from frogs. She could do it. Her frogs were improving. None of them could sing, yet, but they could recognize specific pieces of music and could play simple tunes on an instrument she invented for them. Recently, they had even started harmonizing of their own accord. They were getting smarter each generation, too. Genetic engineering wasn't easy, but it was within her reach.

She felt something lightly hit her shoulder, then moisture. Annoyed by the distraction, she turned around to see two more bubbles headed her way. "Cornelius, I'm trying to work, here!"

"So am I, hun," he answered cheerfully, "I really think I'm on to something, here. It's pretty awesome, actually!"

It was the type of cheer that could only indicate something bad. She decided to walk over to his side of the lab to find out what was so amazing. "What's so great, that you have to disturb my studies?" She was met with the image of his workspace littered with vials, graduated cylinders, and beakers full of various liquids, all labeled with molecular formulas or (for the more complicated ones) chemical names he had made up himself. She was also met a foam-covered floor. She raised an eyebrow at him.

He just smiled at her for a minute. "Chemistry is fun!"

"Sweety," she started cautiously, "did you accidentally get high off of fumes, again?"

He gave her a look that said, 'thanks for killing my buzz.' "No," he answered seriously, "I think I may have gotten it. Look at this." He created a bubble around a small weight. It floated.

Her jaw dropped. A bubble was transporting a spherical 10 lb weight right in front of her. It was actually happening. Cornelius popped the bubble with his finger, and the weight fell to the floor with hardly a sound because of the foam.

"Still needs a lot of tweaking, but I think I've finally got the basic chemical makeup."

"Oh, Honey, that's wonderful! Can I try?"

"Go ahead." She took another weight, placed it on the little platform and pulled down the lever to create the bubble. The bubble popped before anything happened. "You've gotta press this button, too. It creates the updraft needed to lift it off the ground. Or platform surface. Sorry, I forgot to tell you."

She tried again and it worked. "This is so exciting!" She was rather enlivened by the experience. In fact, she had been feeling a little down lately, despite her progress. Since so much of her time was taken up by the project, so she didn't get much social contact, which was starting to get to her. This was definitely uplifting her mood. "Chemistry _is_ fun, isn't it? Especially when you're so good at it."

"Oh yes. But this isn't the only type of fun chemistry." He took her by the waist and kissed her. When he pulled back she was smiling brightly.

"It's not the only type of chemistry you're good at, either."


End file.
